


you’re grounded and giving and darkening scorn

by CassandrasDreamworld



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alive Renfri | Shrike (The Witcher), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Renfri | Shrike, BAMF Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Blood and Violence, F/F, Fairytale elements, Homoerotic Dagger and Swordsplay, Homoerotic Threats of Violence, Horror Elements, Marriage Vows, Marriage of Convenience, Snow White Elements but with more Consent, Sword lesbians, Temporary Character Death, They're lesbians your honor, Threats of Violence, Wraith!Renfri, accidental blood magic, no beta we die like stregobor fucking should have
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:49:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28196451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassandrasDreamworld/pseuds/CassandrasDreamworld
Summary: Yennefer of Vengerberg, a mage bound into servitude to the King of Creyden, gets the seemingly impossible order to search for the man's banished daughter.In the woods outside of Blaviken where she was last seen and proclaimed dead, Yennefer finds nothing that she could have imagined and ends up with something she never expected to have.
Relationships: Renfri | Shrike/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Comments: 24
Kudos: 29
Collections: The Witcher Quick Fic #02





	you’re grounded and giving and darkening scorn

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Title: [insert hozier lyrics here]

The woods are cold and dark, the fog hanging low and painting the world in a wash of grey. It makes the shadows appear even darker and deepens them further. 

It’s eerie and quiet between the trees, the only sounds to be heard are the crunching footsteps of a hooded figure and the rustling of her dress. It seems that everything living has left the forest long ago. There are no footprints or pawprints, no disturbed earth or half eaten plant life.

Yennefer steps on a bone, the loud crack echoing through the forest accompanied by her cursing. She hates this and this whole forest and this assignment.

If she weren’t forced to  _ obey _ no one would catch her dead in these dark and rotten woods. It added insult to injury and  _ humiliation _ , this task despicable and a perverse power play. 

She is furious and her mood drops the longer she is here and doesn’t find anything. The order was clear,  _ do not return if you haven’t found her _ , and she detests that someone can even have this power over her.

Gritting her teeth she focuses on the task at hand, she’s been here for hours already and she cannot find  _ anything _ . No traces of anyone either, the people in Blaviken were close lipped and scared. All of them warned her though to go into the forest.

They say it’s cursed and whoever walks into it is never to be seen again. The folk have stopped hunting in it, gathering in it and considering the run down state of the town it suggests that they’d rather starve then venture into it.

She’s called bullshit  _ before _ but now actually stuck in it she is more and more inclined to believe what they have told her. Even though she hates to admit it and despite not sensing any magic at play. There is no doubt about it though that there has to be  _ something _ at play here.

It’s not so much that there are no animals but there are no  _ monsters _ either. Normally a forest like this would be brimming with them but there is nothing. Even the plants seem not to dare to breathe, seemingly caught in stasis as if there hasn’t been any growth in years.

Yennefer has been wandering this forest for hours and she cannot tell where she is. Everything looks the same and she doesn’t know if she went in a circle, if she went back or not, for all that she knows she could have already left the forest and this is an illusion.

Her magic crackles around her, flowing over her and fizzling out and she lets loose a string of curses. Maybe she hasn’t sensed any chaos because something is blocking her own.

It’s cold and dark and she cannot even access her magic but the bond means she can’t turn around, can’t try again tomorrow because it doesn’t let her turn around. She can barely see through the trees now, doesn’t have a torch or lantern she could use to light her way.

The ever growing shadows seem to grasp at her and trying to envelop her, the branches of the trees snagging at her dress like hands grasping at her. She stumbles and tries to catch herself but to no use.

Thorny bushes catch her, ripping her dress and leaving scratches on her skin that well up with blood. Yennefer lets out a frustrated scream, her magic once again crackles,  _ surges _ all around her before fizzling out again. The only thing it does, is sending a gust of wind out around her, rustling the bushes and disturbing the fog slightly. 

Getting up and brushing her hair out her face she halts.

She is standing at the edge of clearing, thorny bushes growing and twisting around it, climbing trees and branches and transforming it into a prison of thorns.

There seemed to be nothing in the middle of it and Yennefer carefully made her way through the bushes until she stood in the center. Looking around she finds that the whole clearing is nearly unnaturally circular, the thorn bushes too, as if they not only wanted to surround but also keep away everything. The grass crunches under her shoes, the middle dead before slowly turning into something more alive again the farther it is from the heart of the clearing.

The closer she looks the more she sees that everything seems to look as if some kind of  _ explosion _ happened long ago. Even the trees are bowed and curved from it, everything giving the impression of standing inside a globe.

As confused and intrigued Yennefer is, she doesn’t notice the fog getting denser and crawling into the clearing. Covering the ground and sending wisps of it floating into the air and alerting Yennefer that something was  _ wrong _ . 

Something was in the clearing with her.

A prickling sensation at her back had her dodge away right before a spectre’s claws swipe at the place where she just was. It screams and tries again, Yennefer rolling out of the way and gritting her teeth. She tries again to summon her magic but to no avail, it just fizzles out again and only manages to blow away some of the heavy fog.

The display of magic makes the spectre stop in its tracks.

It doesn’t look like the spectres or wraiths that are common. No dress flapping about and torn, instead normal armor that’s worn down and dirty. It’s- her?- face is a distorted image, sharp teeth and dry lips upturned in a snarl. Her hair hangs in her face, dirty and matted with blood, eyes glowing from her sunken in face. Clawed hands twitch at her side and the mockery of a breath rattles around her bloody, open throat.

“ _ Mage _ .” The spectre hisses and lunges again.

Yennefer dodges again and again and again, she can’t do  _ anything _ but dodge, her magic not working and not having any silver weapon on her person. It pisses her off and she is furious and if she dies here she will rip up the afterlife to come back and wreak havoc.

Their dance continues all over the clearing, Yennefer panting with the effort and the spectre not showing any sign of stopping.

Yennefer tries to somehow get her magic to work but it won’t, always flowing over her and fizzing out again. The spectre does not care about her attempts until she notices that she doesn’t attack when Yennefer’s magic crackles around her.

_ Interesting _ .

Yennefer tries it again and again to prove her theory and it seems that she is right. The wraith won’t attack her when her magic is around her.

On the next strike, Yennefer doesn’t dodge. She gathers her magic, letting it build up inside of her and meets the spectre head on. In the very last moment before getting pierced by deadly claws, she releases all of her built up magic in one big burst.

The spectre and her magic collide and then-

White.

  
  


* * *

  
  


When Yennefer blinked away the spots dancing before her eyes she found herself somewhere… else.

The sky is a boiling mass of orange clouds, moving rapidly and painting everything in a soft and yellow light.

She stands in a barren wasteland- or so she thinks at first. Looking closer she sees that this has been a flower field once but now all the grass and flowers are wilted and rotten. The thorn bushes growing out of the earth like ugly black veines, seem to have been roses once upon a time.

Before her, is a young woman with her back turned.

She looks over her shoulder at Yennefer, calculating and slowly starts to face her. Her face is neutral but her gaze is angry and she is unmistakingly Renfri of Creyden. “ _ Why have you come here, Yennefer of Vengerberg? _ ”

Yennefer goes to answer but suddenly Renfri is gone, without making a sound.

She reappears right next to Yennefer and says with an eerie calm, ” _ Have you gone to banish me? _ ” Before disappearing again.

“ _ Or maybe… you’re here to capture what is left of me. _ ” Renfri says behind her, flipping a dagger between her fingers that wasn’t there before. “ _ Has my father sent his dog to find me? _ ”

Snarling, Yennefer answers, “I am not his dog, I’d kill that piece of shit in a heartbeat if I could.” Her hands balling to first and whirling around, finding Renfri standing just inches from her, eyes sparkling with something dangerous. “You’ve been a princess, you know that I cannot disobey.” 

Renfri steps even closer, their breaths mingling together as they look into each other's eyes. She leans forward, her hair brushing Yennefer’s cheek and whispers softly, “ _ Can not or… want not? _ ” 

Subtly and without her notice, Renfri has pushed the dagger between them and holds it to her chin. She leans back and the tip of it digs into Yennefer’s skin, making her look up into Renfri’s wild eyes.

Yennefer bares her teeth. “Can not. If I  _ could _ I would rip him to shreds with my bare hands, feed his flesh to ghouls and his bones too. Curse his ghost and burn his castle down and  _ salt the earth in the wake of destruction for hope that nothing grows there ever again! _ ”

Renfri smiles.

With a sudden strike, Yennefer is pushed to the ground Renfri standing before her dagger held far above her, the shadow hiding her expression. Yennefer gets ready to defend herself or doge away. Renfri’s dagger elangonates and turns into a sword handle wrapped in thorns and cutting into her hands. She drives it into the ground before her and grins, eyes gleaming.  _ “What if I tell you I can release you from him. _ ”

“Then I will tell you that you’re not only dead but also insane.” Yennefer answers flatly, still on edge and body tense. 

Renfri laughs at that, an ugly and desperate and manic thing. She steps forward and stands above Yennefer. “ _ I am not dead, my body is here and my soul tethered to the world. _ ”

All around them the same swords appear that Renfri rammed into the ground, making a crude circle around them and Yennefer has a hunch in which direction this is going.

“ _ I just need someone to bring me back. _ ”

“And how?” Yennefer snaps, kicking Renfri’s legs out from under her and pinning her to the ground, hand at her throat. Renfri just smiles with too many teeth.

“ _ I am of the same bloodline as him, and his bond does not work here. _ ” Renfri’s bloody hand goes to Yennefer’s hand at her throat, painting it red. “ _ Bind yourself to me and you’re as free as you can be. _ ”

Snarling Yennefer closes her hand tight around Renfri’s throat and balls her other hand into a fist. “Then I am as much a puppet for you then I was for him!”

Smirking, Renfri disappears from under her which makes Yennefer topple forward. Cursing she rolls over only for Renfri settling over her again and now pinning  _ her _ to the ground.

“ _ Darling Yennefer, so hasty. _ ” Renfri grins, making another dagger appear in her hand and holding it to Yennefer’s throat. “ _ The effect isn’t nearly as strong, when it’s a bond of marriage. _ ”

And Yennefer- stills. 

She doesn’t even have to think before she says, “Yes.”

Renfri laughs and throws the dagger to the side. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

The swords around them start to glow and shine brightly, Renfri taking Yennefer’s hand into her own. “ _ I, Renfri The Shrike, former princess of Creyden, take thee Yennefer of Vengerberg to be my chosen bride. To fight with thee and spill the blood of our enemies with her. I promise not to betray thee and be faithful to our bond. May we extract revenge on the ones who wronged us together. _ ”

With that she closes in and kisses the back of Yennefer’s hand and then the inside of her palm. Yennefer curls her hand around Renfri’s and looks into her eyes.

“I, Yennefer of Venegerberg, Mage bound to the house of Creyden, take thee Renfri The Shrike as my chosen bride. To fight with thee and burn everyone who opposes us. I promise to pledge my magic to thee and follow her lead and to guide her in turn. May we rip apart the world to get what we want.”

Yennefer leans up and kisses the inside of Renfri’s wrist, headless of the blood painting her mouth red. 

With that Renfri laughs and swoops down kissing Yennefer to seal the bond. Yennefer kisses back just as fierce, their teeth clacking together painfully before they find a rhythm. Both their lips are smeared in red and they can taste the copper tang of the blood but could care less about it.

They kiss until the glowing white of the swords envelops them fully and let's them fall unconscious.


End file.
